ABOUT SWASTIKA

I have seen some students who took picture in front of an old image of swastika. They were attacked by all medias and all intelectual circles as they took picture in front of the "nazi" symbol. They were students and so "uneducated"! In fact, they took picture in front of an ancient symbol of the Sun.

This article first appeared in the September 1975 issue of HERMES and was reproduced with permission in the December 1975 issue of THE AMERICAN THEOSOPHIST.

“Symbols of divine truth were not invented for the amusement of the

ignorant; they are the alphaandomegaof philosophic thought.”

H. P. BLAVATSKY

A Navaho Singer, tracing a rainbow serpent, describes the shores of the heavenly “whirling lake.” Upon the surface of this lake with no outlet and no bottom, he outlines with colored sand the cross of the “whirling logs.” He carefully fashions the eight Yei figures who, two by two, ride astride the ends of the logs. They are the Holy People who balance the divisions of time. They stand as the heavenly feet upon the arms of the swastika. Recreated, they whirl in the universal pattern of differentiated wholeness which this most ancient of symbols represents. The two lines of the cross represent spirit and matter, marking divisions of cycles and indicating the four cardinal points. The feet signify motion and have been called the “ships of life,” barques of Divine Beings who father whole periods of evolution.

The completed symbol of the swastika denotes a world in itself, a spatial order of power with elements equidistant from the center. It is the dual glyph of the cosmic and microcosmic, the configuration of movement divided into four parts.

The swastika was impressed on the walls of Christian catacombs in Rome, together with the words ZWTIKOZWTIKO, “Life of Life”. It was a common symbol of ancient England and Ireland, Scandinavia and Mycenae. It was used by all Germanic people, the Gauls, Etruscans, Celts and Slavs as well. It is found throughout ancient and modern India, in Central Asia, Tibet, China, Japan, and also in all parts of the New World. The Navaho sand painting depicts the same symbol that is found on Aztec pottery, Mayan sculpture, Incan edifices, Zuni paintings, and Blackfoot shields. A small sculpted figure of a Natchez holy man seated in a lotus position bears a swastika on its forehead, the same mark that designates an Initiate in Asia. In the ancient city of Susa funeral vases were decorated with swastikas, while at Mohenjo-Daro plaques and button-shaped stamps were engraved with the unmistakable sign. The German archaeologist Schliemann found several swastikas on religious and magical artifacts excavated at Troy, indicating priestly practices similar to those of ancient Peru, Assyria and Chaldea.

In the Bronze Age in Northern Europe, Odin was often represented passing through space as a whirling disk or swastika looking down through all worlds. The swastika symbolized Thor’s hammer among Germanic people, especially in Scandinavia, while a representation of this hammer eventually became the symbol on the gavel of Masonic Lodges, “the most ancient Order of the Brotherhood of the Mystic Cross.” The ancient Gauls used coins bearing a double ‘s’-pattern swastika. Many gods of ancient Europe were depicted with wheels, hammers or ‘s’ symbols, and in the Iron Age the swastika came to signify the Supreme Deity. As a seal, it was used on parcels, upon idols, and on the eaves of houses for protection against evil. Similarly, Gorgons in “pinwheel” attitudes representing the swastika guarded the abodes of gods and goddesses in ancient Greece. In Buddhist tradition the swastika is one of the sixty-five figures of Sripada, the impression of the Buddha’s foot, “the step of the Master,” and it is the special mark of deities honored by the Lotus School in China.

In the neolithic Harappan civilization, the swastika was depicted turning in either direction, as it was in many cultures, and it was connected with the sun. Later, in India, it was also associated with Ganesha the Pathfinder, whose image is often found at crossroads, signifying fortune. In fact, the word Swastikaderives from the Sanskrit rootssuandastiwhich means well-being.

The swastika is almost universally seen in terms of time and directions of space manifesting as cycles of existence from a central axis. Thus the Dakota Indians say, “the year is a circle around the world,” and the solar wheel has rays and feet at its extremities. The solar swastika representing the eternal round of seasons, peasants in Europe placed cartwheels atop axle poles and ignited them before carrying them down from the tops of hills in mid-summer. In many parts of the world, rock carvings dating back to Neolithic times and earlier represent the sun through the swastika. The Chumash of California have left this same solar design painted on the sandstone walls and ceilings of well-concealed caves frequented at times of initiation. Diogenes Laertius, writing on Pythagoras, said, “The monad (the manifested One) is the principle of all things. From the monad and the indeterminate duad (Chaos), numbers; from numbers, points; from points, lines; from lines, superfices.” The circle represents the Unknown One; the point in the circle signifies the Logos. Daiviprakriti, the light of the Logos, becomes Fohat, the link between spirit and matter. The point becomes a horizontal diameter. This initial, passive duality becomes a conscious activation of duality through human life, symbolized by a vertical diameter cutting across the horizontal, balancing heaven and earth and penetrating both. The swastika is taken from the circumscribed cross; its hooks are portions of the circle now rendered directional. The Logoic point, expanding toward the four cardinal points, has set the wheel in motion.

In the Pythagorean tradition, the swastika stood for the tetraktys, the double symbol. It is the link between heaven and earth, its right arm pointing to heaven, its left arm pointing to earth.

The Alchemists labeled the heavenward arm “solve” and the earthward arm “coagula,” while man stands at the axis, his spiritual nature resolving all form. Like the swastika, he represents the alpha and omega of Universal Creative Force. The central point is not limited to one perfect being, but is God in humanity, the four arms emanating from pure spirit, losing themselves infinitely in matter. Only the balanced cross of spirit-matter fits within the spherical pattern of evolution, exalting the mysteries of each and squaring the circle.

There is a right-handed swastika and a left-handed one, each revolving in opposite directions. The right-handed is called “swastika” while the left-handed is sometimes called “swavastika.” If clockwise movement signifies natural evolution and life, and counter-clockwise indicates regression or death and is an inversion of nature, the Nazi “swastika” would represent this inversion. The symbol was chosen possibly because it was thought to be of Nordic origin, and it was used as a caricature of the Christian Cross. The swastika can clearly symbolize good or evil, thus echoing its inherent double nature. But many of its uses in past ages indicate both directions in contexts that were purely spiritual in nature and which strongly suggest another interpretation. The right arm points to heaven, the left to earth, and this varies depending upon the perspective. If the symbol faces away from one, the hooks point counter-clockwise. If the symbol faces one, the hooks point clockwise. These two perspectives symbolize the microcosmic and the macrocosmic. Man, the perceiver, embodies one while reaching out toward the other.

Being a double symbol, the swastika also represents male and female combined in the hermaphrodite. Thus, it is found carved upon the figure of Ardanari in South India, denoting the pre-sexual state of the Third Root Race. In another old Hindu carving, Vishnu is shown as double-sexed, floating on the water which rises in a semicircle and pours through a swastika representing the source of generation. All subsequent evolution takes place spirally from within, like the directional unfolding of the swastika implicit in the “wheel of Dharma,” the sacred law to which the Buddha pointed. The Upanishads teach that in accordance with natural law, it is necessary to turn the wheel from within, to emulate the fohatic force which expands throughout the Cosmos vitalizing every atom and awakening every conscious center.

The swastika itself is symbolized by the number six which signifies the four points —North, South, East and West—and the poles, or Zenith and Nadir, which coincide with the mystic center and represent the origin of the universe. The four points often symbolize the world quarters and their powers, each arm provided with an extension for the support of the genii of each direction, as in the case of the Navaho Yei figures. The Zenith and Nadir points, however, provide apexes for the upper and lower worlds. Thus there is an arch above and one below in the Pawnee Hako Ceremony, these arches representing the sphere around the swastika.

To the Zuni it is the symbol of the cosmic frame of all things. Zuni prayers begin with a prayer to the middle place, then to the North, which represents air and is yellow, the West which represents water and is blue, the South which represents fire and is red, and the East which represents earth and is white. These are followed by a prayer to the Zenith which is all colors, and to the Nadir which is colorless or black. This is the order of their prayers, from the appeal to the most abstract point, to the superfices of all things. One is reminded again of what Diogenes Laertius wrote: From numbers to points, to lines, to superfices, to solids, and “from these solid bodies whose elements are four—Fire, Water, Air, Earth, of all which, transmuted (correlated) and totally changed, the world consists.” This mystery of points becoming solid bodies is recapitulated in space every time the spiraling birth of a star takes place.

As suggested by the fiery cartwheels of the European peasants and the cremation urns of the Bronze Age, there is a profound relationship between the swastika and fire. In esoteric philosophy the swastika is the originator of fire by friction, and of the “Forty-nine Fires.” One of the names for the swastika is arani, which refers to a process of kindling fire with a fire drill. A related Sanskrit term is pramantha, literally an instrument for kindling fire, manthmeaning rotary motion,manthamimeaning to kindle fire. The Greek prometheiameans fore-knowledge and ultimately the name Prometheus, the Fire Bringer. Prometheus is pramanthapersonified, whose Sanskrit counterpart would be Promati, the son of Fohat. Elsewhere, sacred fire is spoken of as XPWTOS, the Christos, Agni, the Divine Babe, is born from the conjunction of pramanthaandarani, the process symbolized by the swastika.

The Secret Doctrine teaches that the swastika is a “summary in a few lines of the whole work of creation or evolution . . . from cosmo-theogony to anthropogony.” It is the worker’s hammer “which striketh sparks from flint,” flint symbolizing space while the sparks symbolize worlds. It is Thor’s hammer brought to consecrate the New Heaven and New Earth. The four-footed cross, which Thor uses to smite the head of the serpent of evil passions, becomes the root power of the macrocosm and the microcosm. The swastika, symbolizing the work of creation, also symbolizes the Builder or Architect. The Father of the Sacred Fire-Christ is Twastri or Joseph the Carpenter, a counterpart of Viswakarma, the “Father of the Gods” and Architect of the Universe. Viswakarma tied Surya (the sun) onto the swastika, cutting away a portion of his brightness, which really means he is sacrificing himself through the swastika, a symbol of himself. Thus he is the Hierophant Initiator on earth.

The number 31415 signifies the sacred numerical hierarchy of the Dhyan Chohans of various orders. When placed at the boundary of the circle of “Pass Not,” it is called Dhyanipasa, the rope that divides the phenomenal and noumenal cosmos. It is the number of the circle and the mystic swastika. It is the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle, 3.1415:1 or pi, the ratio used by the initiated to calculate various cycles and ages. All of this is majestically symbolized by the swastika, “born in the mystical conceptions of the early Aryans, and by them placed at the very threshold of eternity, or the head of the serpent Ananta.” The Great Serpent on which Vishnu rests during Pralaya is the thousand-headed Sesha-Ananta. Contained within the swastika is the key to the “Seven Great Mysteries of Kosmos” and the cycles of Science, divine and human. He who comprehends it will be delivered from Maha Maya. “One initiated in the mysteries of the Swastika . . . can trace on it, with mathematical precision, the evolution of Kosmos and the whole period of Sandhya . . . [also the relation of the Seen to the Unseen and] the first procreation of man and species.” Swastika symbols mark the seven modes of the Kether crown of the seven-headed Serpent of Eternity, while the zones of post-mortem ascent mark the abodes of the seven principles and the approach to the Great Serpent of Divine Wisdom, the circle encompassing the swastika.

Man, the swastika in essence, combines six cosmic aspects and seeks to discover the seventh at the center. If he succeeds, he not only rests at the still central point but upon the Great Cosmic Serpent as well. He becomes a perfected Adept, one who understands the ten thousand truths of the Buddhist Initiate—truths belonging to the mysteries of primordial cosmogony and theogony, known to those who bear the swastika seal. It is the seal placed on the hearts of living Initiates, burnt into the flesh, forever, with some. They have to keep those truths inviolable and intact, in eternal silence and secrecy to the day these are perceived and ready by their chosen successsors— new Initiates—“worthy of being entrusted with ten thousand perfections.” It is the seal on the foreheads of Buddhas, the swastika fire burning upon the serene brows of those who combine the cosmic perfections with their embodiment in human form.

Sincere students of theosophy must fight prejudice and falsehood, especially when they involve the theosophical movement itself and its teachings.

In his text “Theosophy and the Second World War”, Carlos Cardoso Aveline wrote:

“In a world still partly dominated by bigotry and by ritualistic religions, it is only

natural that the theosophical movement - being rather a non-violent extinguisher of

illusions - should be attacked in various ways, from within and from without. As an instance of such attacks we have a variety of baseless texts which accuse the theosophical movement of having had sympathy for Nazism or Fascism. There are various sources of disinformation around the subject of Theosophy and Hitlerism, and it seems proper to bring some evidence about the actual relationship between the two, including the period during the Second World War.” [1]

Students of theosophy are aware of the misappropriation and criminal use of Hindu sacred symbols by Nazism. As Aveline writes:

“Nazi leaders practiced some kind of anti-humanistic sorcery, and they had much in common with the disguised ‘mysticism of hatred and violence’ which was carefully developed by the Jesuits and used by the Vatican since the 16th century.” [2]

One of the best known examples of the use of a sacred symbol for criminal purposes and anti-evolutionary magic is that of the “Jain cross”, or Swastika.

This ancient and mystical symbol is widely commented in the work “The Secret Doctrine”, by Helena P. Blavatsky. It was used in antiquity by many nations around the world. It is one of the most popular divine symbols in Asia, as it belongs to both Hindu and Buddhist traditions.

H. P. Blavatsky says:

“Few world-symbols are more pregnant with real occult meaning than the Swastika. It is symbolized by the figure 6; for, like that figure, it points in its concrete imagery, as the ideograph of the number does, to the Zenith and the Nadir, to North, South, West, and East; one finds the unit everywhere, and that unit reflected in all and every unit. It is the emblem of the activity of Fohat, of the continual revolution of the ‘wheels,’ and of the Four Elements, the ‘Sacred Four,’ in their mystical, and not alone in their cosmic meaning; further, its four arms, bent at right angles, are intimately related, as shown elsewhere, to the Pythagorean and Hermetic scales. One initiated into the mysteries of the meaning of the Swastika, say the Commentaries, ‘can trace on it, with mathematical precision, the evolution of Kosmos and the whole period of Sandhya’.” [3]

The swastika is, par excellence, the symbol of cosmic evolution. It is an image represented in many temples in India, Tibet, China and other countries with Hindu and Buddhist influence (and indeed the very symbol of esoteric Buddhism). Moreover, it is present in the traditions of the Nordic peoples and in pre-colonial Americas.

Being a universal symbol, the swastika cross is also present in the symbol of the theosophical movement.

The representations of Buddha with the Swastika cross on his chest, being called the ‘Seal of the Heart’, are well-known. The swastika is also present in many ancient Christian relics. About its universality, HPB states:

“[The] ansated Egyptian cross, or tau, the Jaina cross, or Swastika, and the Christian cross have all the same meaning”. [4]

Despite these facts, or maybe because of them, Christian missionaries tried to classify the swastika as “diabolical”, thus trying to destroy one of the oldest sacred symbols, which is also at the origin of “their” own Christian cross. Yet to honestly recognize the evolution of the cross as a symbol would be like accepting that Christianity illegitimately adopted religious images belonging to much earlier traditions.

The crimes committed since the 3rd and 4th century by Christian fanatics, and later by the Jesuits from the 16th century, were, in a sense, intensified in the first decades of the twentieth century by Nazi and fascist regimes.

“Christian” authoritarianism has submitted and persecuted Christian nations and tried to suppress the mystical and authentic Christianity while also making war on other religions. The same disrespect for life was adopted by the Nazis.

The betrayal and denial of the Master and his teachings are symbolized in the New Testament episodes involving Peter and Judas. They have been materialized and confirmed by the conduct of the Church of Rome for almost two thousand years. They are one more example of the denigration of the most sacred symbols of Esoteric Wisdom. Accordingly, the Vatican gave implicit political support to Nazism and Fascism. As noted by Carlos Aveline:

“Of course, the Vatican has always been against Theosophy, for Theosophy proposes universal brotherhood and denounces and fights every form of religious dogmatism.” [5]

The theosophical movement opposes any totalitarian ideology, and shows sympathy for the democratic processes. Theosophy is an occult source and inspiration of movements that contribute to peace and unity among nations, such as the United Nations Organization. The U.N. Charter promulgates in its text the same theosophical ideal of universal brotherhood. [6]

The term “Aryan”

Nazism distorted the term “Aryan”. The word means “noble”, and it is used in “The Secret Doctrine” by Helena Blavatsky to designate the fifth stage of the evolutionary process, extending over a period of many millions of years. The concept of “Aryan race” refers to the fifth race and covers seven sub-races with a vast number of nations whose individuals have different physical appearances.

From the point of view of esoteric philosophy, the same immortal soul, the Divine aspect of each human being, goes through (or incarnates into) each of the divisions of the evolutionary cycles, including races, globes, rounds and manvantaras. Thus it makes no sense to relate the term “Aryan” or “Arya” with any specific hereditary or ethnological characteristic, or colour skin.

The word is also used in the spiritual sense, and in the “Theosophical Glossary” we find the following definition:

“Arya(Sk.). Lit., ‘the holy’; originally the title of Rishis, those who had mastered the ‘Aryasatyani’ and entered the Aryanimarga path to Nirvana or Moksha, the great ‘four-fold’ path. But now the name has become the epithet of a race, and our Orientalists, depriving the Hindu Brahmans of their birth-right, have made Aryans of all Europeans. In esotericism, as the four paths, or stages, can be entered only owing to great spiritual development and ‘growth in holiness’, they are called the ‘four fruits’. The degrees of Arhatship, called respectively Srotapatti, Sakridagamin, Anagamin, and Arhat, or the four classes of Aryas, correspond to these four paths and truths.” [7]

Let’s see now what the Glossary says about “Aryasatyani”:

“Aryasatyani (Sk.). The four truths or the four dogmas, which are (1) Dukha, or that misery and pain are the unavoidable concomitants of sentient (esoterically, physical) existence; (2) Samudaya, the truism that suffering is intensified by human passions; (3) Nirodha, that the crushing out and extinction of all such feelings are possible for a man ‘on the path’; (4) Marga, the narrow way, or that path which leads to such a blessed result.” [8]

It is evident that “Aryan” was the title of that Sage who, having travelled the path of the highest morality and selfless service to mankind, reached the sublime heights of Divine Wisdom and Compassion.

Something similar happened to the word “Brahamana”, which is conventionally used as corresponding to a social caste in India. The title of “Brahamana” was, originally, given to those who by their own merit and purity had reached the status of initiate or “twice born”, who conquered “every inclination to evil”. The Buddha himself is called Brahamana. This ideal of “virtue and knowledge” is beautifully described in the last chapter of the Buddhist classic “Dhammapada”. There we see the Enlightened One proclaiming, with no reference to caste or any form of social position:

“Him I call a Brahamana who is meditative, stainless, settled; whose duty is done and depravities gone; who has attained the highest end.” [9]

There is another interesting word with the prefix “Arya”:

“Aryavarta(Sk.). The ‘land of the Aryas’, or India. The ancient name for Northern India, where the Brahmanical invaders first settled.” [10]

The Nazis corrupted and then adopted the terms “Aryan” and “Arya”, thus depriving them of their real meaning. Christian authorities have done the same to many other terms, to sacred symbols and relics of ancient traditions, including the Jewish one. Theosophy, on the other hand, has a deep affinity with the fraternal, peaceful and nonviolent action of mystics and philosophers of every nation, religion and cultural tradition.

The swastika is an ancient symbol that has been used for over 3,000 years. (That even predates the ancient Egyptian symbol, the Ankh!) Artifacts such as pottery and coins from ancient Troy show that the swastika was a commonly used symbol as far back as 1000 BCE.

During the following thousand years, the image of the swastika was used by many cultures around the world, including in China, Japan, India, and southern Europe. By the Middle Ages, the swastika was a well known, if not commonly used, symbol but was called by many different names:

Figures in Navajo sandpaintings generally proceed either towards the sunrise or clockwise, depending upon the viewers orientation. For the Navajo, the cardinal directions start in the east (as opposed to our north), and the east is usually shown at the top of a sandpainting, and open (to let in the dawn's light). This is the same orientation of a hogan, whose door is always in the east.

How Gods (Yeis) thought humans how to grow plants and use the medecinal herbs:

Until the Nazis used this symbol, the swastika was used by many cultures throughout the past 3,000 years to represent life, sun, power, strength, and good luck.

Even in the early twentieth century, the swastika was still a symbol with positive connotations. For instance, the swastika was a common decoration that often adorned cigarette cases, postcards, coins, and buildings. During World War I, the swastika could even be found on the shoulder patches of the American 45th Division and on the Finnish air force until after World War II.

In the 1800s, countries around Germany were growing much larger, forming empires; yet Germany was not a unified country until 1871. To counter the feeling of vulnerability and the stigma of youth, German nationalists in the mid-nineteenth century began to use the swastika, because it had ancient Aryan/Indian origins, to represent a long Germanic/Aryan history.

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By the end of the nineteenth century, the swastika could be found on nationalist German volkisch periodicals and was the official emblem of the German Gymnasts' League.

In the beginning of the twentieth century, the swastika was a common symbol of German nationalism and could be found in a multitude of places such as the emblem for the Wandervogel, a German youth movement; on Joerg Lanz von Liebenfels' antisemitic periodical Ostara; on various Freikorps units; and as an emblem of the Thule Society.

In 1920, Adolf Hitler decided that the Nazi Party needed its own insignia and flag. For Hitler, the new flag had to be "a symbol of our own struggle" as well as "highly effective as a poster." (Mein Kampf, pg. 495)

On August 7, 1920, at the Salzburg Congress, this flag became the official emblem of the Nazi Party.

In Mein Kampf, Hitler described the Nazis' new flag: "In red we see the social idea of the movement, in white the nationalistic idea, in the swastika the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man, and, by the same token, the victory of the idea of creative work, which as such always has been and always will be anti-Semitic." (pg. 496-497)

Because of the Nazis' flag, the swastika soon became a symbol of hate, antisemitism, violence, death, and murder.

"Heinrich Himmler had reorganized the SS as a black-magic Order of Knights (Order of the Silver Star, see also: Argenteum Astrum) after the pattern of the Jesuits or even the Illuminati order. The SS had taken over some very special magic rites from the freemasons, but some rituals were taken straight from the Knights Templar. SS members wore carefully designed black uniforms featuring an old magic symbol - silver skulls. The symbols were also found on magic rings. This was suggested by Himmler's personal magician, the SS Brigadenfuhrer Karl Maria Wiligut (1866-1946), who was also known under the alias K. M. Weisthor (Nicholas Goodrick- Clarke, "The Occult Roots of Nazism", St Petersburg, 1993, p. 197). In 1924-1927, Wiligut had been treated in a mental hospital in Salzburg. The double S, or sun runes, resembled two lightning bolts. The leadership demanded very high standards of its members. SS officially stood for 'Schutzstaffeln' (guard corps), but the real meaning was Schwarze Sonne - the black sun. Himmler was the grand master. The SS headquarters were at Wewelsburgcastle in Westphalia (north-western Germany), which Himmler bought as a ruin in 1934 and rebuilt the next 11 years at a cost of 13 million marks and turned into a temple for his SS cult." - from "Architects of Deception" (p. 427), Juri Lina

A skull refers to the first alchimical phase known as black phase, nigredo (chaos, dissolution and death), with Saturn as a guide planet and a skull and a raven as symbols. Saturn is the most difficult of the major planets bringing separation, death, and sorrow. On the higher side, Saturn brings power of discipline.

There is a great debate as to what the swastika means now. For 3,000 years, the swastika meant life and good luck. But because of the Nazis, it has also taken on a meaning of death and hate.

These conflicting meanings are causing problems in today's society. For Buddhists and Hindus, the swastika is a very religious symbol that is commonly used. Chirag Badlani shares a storyabout one time when he went to make some photocopies of some Hindu Gods for his temple. While standing in line to pay for the photocopies, some people behind him in line noticed that one of the pictures had a swastika. They called him a Nazi.

Unfortunately, the Nazis were so effective at their use of the swastika emblem, that many do not even know any other meaning for the swastika. Can there be two completely opposite meanings for one symbol?

In ancient times, the direction of the swastika was interchangeable as can be seen on an ancient Chinese silk drawing.

Some cultures in the past had differentiated between the clockwise swastika and the counter-clockwise sauvastika. In these cultures the swastika symbolized health and life while the sauvastika took on a mystical meaning of bad-luck or misfortune.

But since the Nazis use of the swastika, some people are trying to differentiate the two meanings of the swastika by varying its direction - trying to make the clockwise, Nazi version of the swastika mean hate and death while the counter-clockwise version would hold the ancient meaning of the symbol, life and good-luck.

ONE OF THE SUPERB POTTERY PLATES FROM UR WITH FOUR AYTSES [GOATS]
FORMING THE SOLAR CROSS...FOUR DIVERGING TRIANGLES POINT TO THE
CENTER THAT IS DIVIDED INTO THE SUN SQUARE [6x6=36 SQUARES]...THE FOUR
TRIANGLES ARE IN TURN MADE UP OF MARKED WHITE PYRAMIDS THAT FORM
THE 1+2+3+4=10=TETRACTYS. FOUR WINDS, FOUR ELEMENTS, FOUR CARDINAL
POINTS ARE MOVED BY THE FIFTH QUINTESSENTIAL PRINCIPLE [SPIRIT=LIFE FORCE=
DIVINE CONSCIOUSNESS...LEVELS VERY ACCORDING TO THE SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION
OF THE ORGANISM...EVEN PLANTS CONTAIN CONSCIOUSNESS...WHILE DOLPHINS
DISPLAY A PHENOMENAL DEGREE OF SENTIENT EMOTIONS]. NOTE THE NOTCHED PERIPHERY
DISPLAYING MOTION OF THE COSMIC WHEEL... FOURTH MILLENNIUM BC.

"Does anyone know where the Swastika symbol originates from. Was it used in Sumeria 3000 B.C.? Was it really once considered to be the symbol of Christ????"HUSEY from the Ancient/Classical History Forum.

The swastika is actually an ancient symbol, but its origin is hard to define. In "The Swastika,"Folklore, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Dec., 1944), pp. 167-168, W. G. V. Balchin says the word swastika is of Sanskrit origin and the symbol is one of good luck or a charm or a religious symbol (the last, among the Jains and Buddhists) that goes back to at least the Bronze Age. It appears in various parts of the ancient and modern world. This article mentions Christians did, indeed, consider the swastika for their symbol.

In response to this forum question about the origins of the swastika, other forum members have researched the historically popular symbol now associated almost exclusively with the much-hated Nazis and Hitler. Here is the swastika lore they found.

One popular notion holds that it is a very old solar symbol. Relatedly, recent scholarship with ancient Indian and Vedic documents reveals a legend concerning a mythical demonic semi-deity who was obsessed with world conquest and the destruction of subject people/races. His name is difficult to translate from Sanskrit, but it's phonetic rendering into English sounds something like "Putz."
-Mizta Bumpy (HERRBUMPY)

I just know that many symbols (as well as philosophers like Nietzsche, etc.) were misunderstood / mistreated / badly-used by Nazis. One of them was the swastika, which, I think, symbolized the four powers of nature. I think it was found in other ancient lands too, apart from Sumeria.

The swastika resembles a lot the "Greek" cross in its symmetry, if you take out those little "wings" from the swastika. That's the only connection I can find with Christianity. Of course many pre-Christian symbols were redefined and "used" by Christians of all times (with varying success).
-APOLLODOROS

The swastika is indeed a sun symbol from antiquity, appropriate in many themes & on many occasions. Like flood legends, the swastika (in various recognizable styles) is one of many symbols found thru-out ancient civilisations having no possible contact (as we understand contact) with each other. Usually it meant the sun, in its scheme as "the wheel of life". (Mayan, I believe.) It was also a popular good luck symbol. For example, it can be found on pre-1930 American New Year's greeting cards.

A white swastika on a black field was the flag of an American Boy Scout Troop from its founding to some point in the 1930's, when the Troop itself voted to discontinue its use, in light of the rise of the Nazi regime. The German-American Bundt (the pre-War American Nazi movement), who also used the swastika, may also have influenced their decision.

The Indian and Vedic connection you mention is likely the swastika's oldest incarnation. The symbol itself may still be found as an architectural element, decorating sufficiently aged temples to whatever deity is involved. There is a simply fascinating documentary on the swastika, and its journey from mystic rune to fascist emblem. Unhappily, I can't recall the title.

If memory serves, a particular German woman of wealth, and the upper class, made it her cause to sponsor the swastika into its position as The Emblem of the Nazi party. As often happens after wars, mysticism and spiritualism was popular thru-out post WW1 and the 1920's. She appears to have been a true believer of some kind, and felt the swastika itself had the power to lead Germany to ultimate triumph, that soldiers who fought under it would obtain super-strength, etc.
-SISTERSEATTL

The swastika is (or was, depending on your WWII point of view) actually a symbol of good luck, and possibly of fertility and regeneration.

I once read that several ancient cultures associated the symbol with the sun, although I'm not sure of the actual details on this. The Navajo Indians also had a similar symbol - depicting their gods of the mountains, rivers, and rain.

In India, the swastika is an auspicious mark - worn as jewelry or marked on objects as a symbol of good luck. The symbol, though, is extremely ancient and predates Hinduism. The Hindus associated it with the sun and wheel of birth and rebirth. It is an emblem of the Hindu god Vishnu, one of the supreme Hindu deities.

hope this shed a little light.....
_PEENIE1

Swastika has nothing to do with Christ and with Christianism. It is a Buddhist symbol for peace, as it still appears nowadays on Buddhist temples in Asia. I have seen one in a bi-lingual edition of a Taiwanese magazine. The editors felt the necessity of explaining in the English text that Swastika is a Buddhist symbol of peace, and this is why the puzzled European reader could see it in pictures showing temples.

A difference however can be noticed: the orientation of the arms is clockwise in the Buddhist swastika and anti-clockwise in the one adapted by the Nazis. Unfortunately I don't know how this change occurred or its significance.
- MYKK1

The swastika... has nothing to do with the swastika used as the symbol in Nazi Germany. That symbol is from Nordic runes and was used in Nordic tribes' pagan culture. Later it was also used by the Teutonic Knights formed in the 12th century. From this source the Nazis got a lot of their symbols, like the SS rune.
-GUENTERHB

The whole 2012 date continuously points back to the holy cross, or the swastika. If you look down on a swastika, it's both the double cross, indicating the 4 sided pyramid, or 5 sided counting the bottom, but it also represents a solar effect. This solar effect can been seen from the sun or from outside the earth but we can't see it from here. The effect twists somewhat to create an image similar to the swastika. The swastika was encoded as a reference to solar activity that will occur around 2012."

The Fylfot Cross: Also called the Hermetic Cross, Hammer of Thor, the Gammadion, and the swastika (based on a Sanskrit word for "well-being)." A symbol of whirling forces. The fylfot is covered in the zodiacal and elemental symbols, with the sun at its center.

We find here the Aztecan calendar cycle of 52 uncorrected years represented in the form of a left rotating "swastika". The wheel starts with the year 1 Acatl, then turns left to 2 Tecpatl, 3 Calli, 4 Tochtli, 5 Acatl, etc. There is a good explanation of the whole composition in Duran and Seler. The question is, did the Hopi have a real writing system like the Aztecs and did they share the same calendar around the year 1000? Why do they not have a developed writing in the 17th century?